BRIDGEPORT -- City police identified the three men accused of using sledgehammers to break through a cinderblock wall into the AT&T Store at 4713 Main Street shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday, only to be captured only after officers twice fired shots.

"The restaurant does not have an alarm system, but the AT&T Store does, and the manager has remote access to the security (camera) video from home," the spokesman said in a news release. "He was able to provide useful information in real time while on the phone with dispatchers.''

When officers arrived the suspects had gone back through the wall into the restaurant.

"There was a confrontation and when one of them made a gesture that could be (reaching for) a weapon, one officer fired several shots, but no one was hit,'' Kaempffer said.

The suspects then used the sledge hammer to break through the restaurant's plate glass front window and escaped on foot, with officers in pursuit.

"There was a second confrontation on a nearby street and more shots were fired by police,'' Kaempffer said. Again no one was hit, and at this time it isn't clear if any of the suspects were armed or had fired any shots.

Over the next hour all three men were captured and the phones and cash taken in the break-in were recovered.

"There was a very heavy police presence in the area,'' Kaempffer said.

Two Bridgeport police officers were injured in the incident. One was cut by broken glass from the store window also had a rib injury, and the second suffered a sprained ankle, he said.

Capt. James Viadero said that there have been several similar commercial burglaries in the city in recent months and detectives are trying to determine if there is any link.

All three men were charged with first-degree charges of burglary, larceny and criminal mischief as well as charges of possession of burglary tools and interfering with police.